Howdy, folks:
I searched through these forums, as well as other forums for the same topic. I did find one thread here asking the same question, but only had one reply suggesting that it's okay to decant. Anyways, this is my first time doing a Hefe and using Hefe yeast, so no prior experience...
I did a 1.36L starter last night and pitched one tube of WLP320 American Hefeweizen yeast. It's been on a stir plate for almost 24 hrs. No noticeable krausen, but I'm not concerned about that at all as it is looking nice and milky:
My concern is whether or not I should cold crash and decant, which is my standard practice. Since Hefe yeast tend to stay in suspension and do not floccuate well, I'm concerned that a cold crash won't cause all of the yeast to drop, and if I decant, that I could potentially pour out a substantial amount of yeast and result in under-pitching. What does everyone else do with their Hefe starters?
My original (typical) plan was to put in the fridge around Midnight, and let it rest for 12 hours, then pull it out at noon tomorrow around when I start to mash in. Now, I am thinking I might just let it keep spinning and pitch the whole dang thing. I always like to crash and decant my starters since I'd rather not pour the funky oxidized "beer" into my fresh wort.
Thoughts?